Sharing, Caring, Helping, Protection and Cooperation by Mindfulness and Right Understanding.

2 April 2014

QA and Dhamma Discussion with Japanese Yogi on 31st October 2013

Teaching of ThaBarWa Sayadaw U Ottamasara

Question and Answer and Dhamma Discussion

with Japanese Yogi

at ThaBarWa Centre (45th Street)

31st October 2013

Desire ... desire to see, to
eat, to listen ... you must not obey that desire. You can see, you can eat, but
you must do against that desire. You must do without desire. You must abandon
your desire. Doing with desire is wrong. Whatever we do is done with desire. We
accept desire, that's why desire always makes our mind busy, wrong ... because
of desire.

Question : What
about our dream to accomplish ... for example I wish Sayadaw comes to teach in
Japan ... so this is ok? No need to let go?

Sayadaw : You
can do like this but you must try to abandon that wish. Doing with desire or doing with wish is not
right action. Doing-only is right. The real meditation is practicing-only. Practicing with desire is not following the
middle way.

Most of meditators (yogis) are
practicing with desire. They don't understand that all desires and wishes are
to be abandoned. They don’t know like this. This is why they use desire, use wishes
in whatever they do. The real meditation, the real middle way is trying to be
doing-only, without desire, without attachment. Desire is attachment.

Your wish is that Japanese
people know the teaching but normally whatever you do is with desire, you
accept this desire ... this is not the best way. The best thing that you can do
is trying to abandon the desire. It is
like trying to be educated. Every
student will try to be the best one but not everyone can be the best one. Only the few of them can be. Everybody work
but only few people can get good earning.

So using desire is not
useful. The surest way is trying to abandon the desire. If you are able to
abandon desire, this power is very powerful and because of this power your
dream will surely become true.

It is possible to be able
to do like this. You must try not to do unnecessary things.Not to think unnecessary thinking.Not to make unnecessary actions. In this way,
you will be able to control your physical, oral and mental actions. You must
try not to copy other people. We are always copying other people.This is why our qualities are not much
different from each other.

If we can abandon doing
like this there will be special power which is perfect, complete. Because of
this power everything will be easy. When I help many poor people, old age
people, yogis, I use this power. When I use desire as "I want to help
people", I cannot do like this; this desire is not very powerful.

Because of right practice I
tried to abandon all oral, physical and mental actions; I tried to abandon
living beings and non-living beings, to abandon all things and in this way
abandoning power became complete. This power is very powerful, very useful. It
can fulfil not only my desire but also the desire of other people.

All our actions are
controlled by desire. This is why it is necessary to do against that desire.
Not to look at everyone, not to think about everything, not to worry about the
future. It is possible, this is mind habit. It is possible to abandon all mind
habits. In this way you will be able to control your mind.

Meditation is simple,
everybody can follow. Not only
meditators, everybody can understand like this but you must practice, you must
make alive your understanding. In this way your life will change.

If Japanese people can
apply this understanding and do good deeds there will be no mind problem. Very
effective way. I am teaching many people in this country and many foreigners
also. Later, more and more people will accept my teaching and try to follow and
in this way believe more and more.

Try to abandon everything,
every person and in this way you are changing the mind power. But your desire,
your wish is necessary for your country. It is necessary for Japanese people to
understand like that and practice like this, to use the right understanding.

Only changing the
understanding. If you change your understanding, your action will automatically
change. My intention is also to do like that. I went to Singapore and Malaysia
for 4 years in the past. That’s why I can feel the mind of Singaporean.
Japanese mind is also like this.

I know how to do. My desire
is to help them. I want the Singaporean and Japanese people to be free from
mind problems. For your country education is not necessary; to hear, to listen
to the teaching and to practice is necessary. For our country, there are a lot
of poor people so education is necessary.
Beside they must also meditate. If they don’t meditate, when they get
rich there will be mind problem.

Question : About
how to help Japanese to understand.

Sayadaw : You
know, you understand what is necessary.
That’s why what you can do is just to abandon all desire except that desire.
If you cannot abandon other desires you must work many other unnecessary works.
If you can abandon, your mind will be clear and in this way it will be more and
easier to achieve. Other things are not necessary

Here in our country,
because there are a lot of monks, a lot of Buddha’s teaching there is less mind
problems despite there are lot of poor people.

Question : About
education in the west and Japan to cultivate the desire, so how to convince
someone to change the desire to abandoning? (What benefit they would get as
they know only benefit and pleasure).

Sayadaw : You
are one of the people. Everyone should change his own habit. We use our habit,
we do what we want to do. This is the habit of everyone. I am one of the people
as you are. So you must try to change yourself. In this way the habit will
spread to other people and this will solve the problems. Problems can be solved only by this way.

Mistake is also spreading
from one to another. Right practice or following the middle way must stop to
spread mistake from one person to another one. You are responsible for yourself. So you must try to change yourself. If you
are dutiful to yourself you can help other people. In this way we all must try
to be dutiful to ourselves. The same way we have to work to be able to stand on
our own feet. We also must try. We are responsible to abandon our own habit.
We are responsible to abandon our own actions. In this way.

There are two opposite
practices : doing and abandoning. If more and more people are following the
abandoning way, others will also automatically follow to abandon. In this way,
everyone can be complete. Don’t think about others. Just think about yourself.
The problem is only concerning yourself, to change yourself. So also other need
to change by themselves.

Question : But
they need an example..

Sayadaw : Now I
also try to change myself and I help
other people to follow this way. You are also one of the yogis trying to follow
this way. If you think about other it will be difficult. Just stop your habit.
You have a lot of habit in yourself. Try to abandon all habit. Try to follow the middle way. In that way
that action will spread to other mind, to other people and in this way other
people will also follow this way. This is the only way. No choice.
You have to be like this. It really works.

Doing or not doing is not
important. Happening or not is not
important. Knowing or not is not
important. Only to have abandoning power is important. If there is abandoning power, doing or not is not
important. Knowing or not is not important.
Whatever happens to you is not important. Without abandoning power it is
important, doing or not is important, knowing or not is important.

Because there is no abandoning
power. If there is abandoning power it will be easy but not for oneself, for
others. I work for others. Because of abandoning power, easy or not is not
important, life or death is not important, young or old, male or female ... if
there is no abandoning power you have to depend on yourself; when you are young
is ok , if you are healthy also ok if you are not it is not ok. The same for
everyone, just solve your own problem it is working for others.

If you do against your
desire, there is a lot of desire, whenever it appears, in this way there will
be less and less desire and you will be able to abandon your desire. Abandoning
power is very useful.

Question : So
actually you abandon your desire in order to accomplish your wishes.

Sayadaw : Yes,
if you can abandon your desire, it is very sure you will be able to accomplish
your which. Desire is very easy, so many, but nothing happens.

Desire is the sign
incompleteness; if there is desire, it means the mind is not complete; if there
is no desire the mind is complete. There is desire because you cannot do.
If your mind is complete there will be
no desire. Desire is disease of mind. If there is no disease the mind have
power, if there is disease, no power.

Now you are using the
understanding, it is possible to follow the middle way. What you should try at
the present time is to follow the middle way. Not rejecting, not attaching, to
use-only, to experience-only, this is the middle way. Using the created truth
without attachment, using-only. All the created truths are to use-only, to
do-only, to experience-only. If you don't understand like this you cannot
follow the middle way and you cannot understand it is possible. I also practice
like this and I share the practice.

Question : I am
one of the persons who is so much impressed by you so if I do also like you I
can help other people.

Sayadaw : The
same. Over ten years ago, in this country I am teaching the meditation practice.
You try to go beyond the followers. A lot of mediators practice just as followers.
You should try. There are a lot of yogis in this country, but their
understanding is just like other people, like followers.

Their good deeds are also
like others and they cannot go beyond tradition. I had to try to go beyond
tradition so you also have to try to do like this, to use the right
understanding, in your daily life, in practicing meditation, in doing good
deeds. If you can change your mind, you can work for all. So also many people are impressed by my teaching.
They want to change from tradition.

Question : A
lot of Vipassana meditators in Japan they are not comfortable with outside
people and so don't spread their knowledge. I agree with you about how should
practice.

Sayadaw : If
you can follow the middle way you can help whoever is concerning with you,
because for nearly everybody it is necessary to understand like this and to be
able to practice like this.

Because of meeting with you
I will think about Japanese people, so that they will get not opposite understanding.
It is possible to have the same understanding. I am specialised in this work,
to change the understanding.

I have been working for
about ten years. Here in this country many different understandings, so I try
to balance everyone. Here in our centre a lot of different people can stay
together and work together because the understanding is not like others.

Question : I
have been very impressed when I visited
your centre last month to see these sick people so peaceful it made me reflect
a lot about why.

Sayadaw : Most
of the yogis in the centre can detach from the situation, this is the reason.
Over 100 people died in our centre in the last four years.

Daily activities to participate ….

ThaBarWa Centre or ThaBarWa Yeiktha is an ideal place for learning and practicing meditation as well as for helping others who have physical and mental limitations and difficulties.

Our center takes care of everybody, regardless of age, race and religion, who cannot support themselves and survive on their own due to various reasons and at the same time teaching them how to meditate and purify their mind.

The population of our centre is more than 2,500. By staying at our centre, you will have plenty of chances to experience and participate in the following activities …

1. Following the monks in their daily alms rounds and helping in distributing the alms food to infirm, old folks and meditators.

2. Taking care of and assisting infirm or old folks with their chores.

3. Visiting branches of ThaBarWa Centres (across Myanmar).

4. Learning Burmese culture and the people.

5. Attending insight meditation session and classes.

6. Helping in the kitchen, cooking and distributing food.

7. Helping in the health care, in the clinics and wards.

8. Helping in the library.

9. Assisting Venerable with management, IT and technology.

10. Visiting the mercy villages which were established (by ThaBarWa) for homeless and needy families and individuals.

11. Sharing your language, IT and technology knowledge and expertise with adults and Children of our centre.

Sayadaw Ashin Ottamasara

Please click the photo to visit Sayadaw's facebook

Biography

Sayadaw Ashin Uttamasara was born in Katha, Sagaing Division, Myanmar on Sunday 26th October 1969.

Since his youth he placed full value on education. He passed Matriculation in 1986 with flying colors. After completing a B.A (English, Honors) from the University of Yangon in 1992, he became a young entrepreneur and successful businessman within a short period of time.

Faced with difficulties and frustrations in running a complex business for 7 years, he sought refuge in the Dhamma in 1999. With the help of a Dhamma friend, he entered the Mogok Meditation Centre at Insein Monastery for a five-day meditation retreat, becoming initiated in Dhamma contemplation and practice.

From February 1999 to January 2002 he deeply concentrated on meditation. He became so devoted to Dhamma that he was able to reduce his business calmly, without much attachment.

For the propagation of Dhamma he donated all the assets he had accumulated during 6 years of entrepreneurship. He then concentrated on charity, morality and insight contemplation to find the perfect Truth.

In 2002, he was ordained in Yangon by Sayadaw U Nayyasagara and started to teach Vipassana Insight Meditation.

Today, Sayadaw teaches Dhamma and Guided Vipassana Insight Meditation in various institutions, schools, hospitals and individual residences in Myanmar and other countries.

Sayadaw remains a well-known name throughout the shores of Myanmar and beyond.

Thabarwa is a place for everyone!!

Thabarwa Center is a non-profit humanitarian organization working for a noble cause.

We provide a home sweet home for everybody (both for locals and foreigners alike), unconditionally.

We open 24 hours a day, seven days a week without recess.

The activities of Sayadaw Ashin Uttamasara and Thabarwa Center are wide and various, serving the spiritual and physical needs of thousands from far and near.

More and more visitors from all over Myanmar and abroad are coming daily to visit, learn meditation and volunteer their skills and time in caring for those taking refuge at Thabarwa Center.

Good deeds at Thabarwa

• Providing refuge not only for meditators but also for the old aged, homeless, orphans, loners, infirm and the people with physical and mental difficulties.

• Currently more than 2,500 people (as of October 2015) taking refuge at our centre.

• Providing health care, food, clothing, shelter, clean water for cooking and drinking, etc. and offering aids and support for free of charge.

• Solving day to day problems of centre residents, meditators, volunteers and visitors.

• Communicating and cooperating with volunteers, charities, non-profit organizations and philanthropists from Myanmar and abroad.

• Conducting daily Vipassana Insight Meditation and Dhamma Talks.

• Conducting retreats in the traditions of renowned vipassana meditation masters. All the meditation methods are being utilized without attachment to any particular method.